Scarpa North America Blog

Climb Mt. Elbert with SCARPA team member Erik Weihenmayer

Apr. 13th 2011

By SCARPA

SCARPA team member Erik Weihenmayer was involved with an inspiring project this past fall, Soliders to the Summit. Erik and his climbing teammates, many of whom have been a part of Erik’s climbing team on Everest, El Cap and elsewhere, took 12 wounded soldiers from the U.S. Army, Navy, and Marines, whose injuries included amputations, blindness, and PTSD, to climb in the Himalaya.

They reached the summit of a difficult Himalayan summit, in the process achieving their other goal: Prove what’s possible despite adversity.

Now, Erik, with help from No Barriers USA, is working on the next stage of the project: Creating a film (the trailer is shown here) that tells the stories of the soldiers who went on the climb and helps spread a message that healing and recovery are possible.

That’s where fun, the outdoors and a good cause meet. If you’ve ever wanted to scale a big peak, and you find this an inspirational story, Erik, the first blind summiteer of Mt. Everest, will lead a climbing trip up Mt. Elbert, Colorado’s highest peak at 14,440 feet, on May 2o.

The trip is a fundraising effort for the film project. Up to 25 people can join Erik, other Everest veterans from his climbing team, some of the soliders who went on last fall’s trip, as well as Jordan Romero, the youngest person to climb Everest. The trip costs $1,000 including hotel and dinner in Leadville the night before the climb.